I am reviewing all basic level Japanese grammar that I learned in school, N5 and N4 level stuff, I am doing this by means of a couple of anki decks, UBJG and a JFE one, however I keep getting tripped up on the bakari sentences.

ジャズばかり聴いている。 ジャズばかりきいている
ジャズを聴いてばかりいる。 ジャズをきいてばかりいる
He listens only to Jazz.(to the exclusion of other music)
All he does is listen to Jazz.(all day)


酒ばかり飲んでいる。 さけばかりのんでいる(to the exclusion of other alcohol)
酒を飲んでばかりいる。 さけをのんでばかりいる
He drinks only sake.
All he does is drink sake.

I looked up bakari on J-Gram, and got a list of example sentences which was helpful, but I need a more indepth explanation of what the difference is. The english sentences make perfect sense to me, but I keep mixing up the meaning when I look at the Japanese sentences, i.e I'll translate the first Japanese sentence with second english sentence and vice versa

Thanks for the help

ばかり modifies what comes immediately before it.

「ジャズ」ばかり聴いている -- "Jazz" is before ばかり so "Jazz" is the only thing he listens to.

「ジャズを聴いて」ばかりいる -- "Listens to jazz" is before ばかり so "Listening to jazz" is the only thing he does.

I strugged this and thought of it as follows:

If bakari is after the noun it effects only the noun and if bakari is after the noun and verb it effects both.
I also colour code my notes: I write bakari in green and if it effects just the noun I highlight the noun in green leaving the verb white. If it effects both I highlight both in green.

The scope of ばかり is what comes directly in front of it. So, in the case of ジャズばかり聴いている, the ばかり applies to ジャズ. What does he listen to? Nothing but jazz (not pop or classical). In the case of ジャズを聴いてばかりいる, ばかり applies to the whole clause ジャズを聴いて. What does he do? Nothing but listen to jazz.

Similarly, in 酒ばかり飲んでいる, the ばかり applies to 酒, but in the case of 酒を飲んでばかりいる, ばかり applies to the whole clause 酒を飲んで.